"History Lives on in Art" Wayside

William Henry Jackson camped in this unique location in 1866.

NPS/Walker Donnelly

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Historical/Interpretive Information/Exhibits

Description of Wayside: Low-profile wayside that is 42 x 24 inches. It has a black rectangular base with two rectangular pillars supporting the wayside panel. The panel is framed in black metal. The wayside is located at the west end of the Oregon Trail Pathway, facing east and overlooking Mitchell Pass, a gap between two sandstone bluffs.

Wayside Layout: At the top of the wayside is a thin black banner with white text. Aligned to the left is "Scotts Bluff National Monument". Aligned to the right is the text "National Park Service U.S. Department of the Interior," and finally the National Park Service arrowhead. The title of the wayside is below the black banner in large black font. The panel has a cream-colored background. Black text is arranged in two columns in the center of the wayside. There is a primary image that takes up the lower left corner of the panel and an inset image on the right hand side. 

Wayside Title: History Lives on in Art

Text: William Henry Jackson slept here.

In 1866 William Henry Jackson traveled the California Trail as a bullwhacker with a freight wagon train. Although he had no prior experience, Jackson quickly learned to yoke and drive the multiple yokes (pairs) of oxen that pulled each wagon. Seventy years later he returned to dedicate the new Park Service museum on the east side of the pass. By this time he was a well-known photographer, artist, and supporter of emigrant trail history. Jackson guided the park rangers to this spot where he and his fellow bullwhackers bedded down for the night.

Using memories of his own experiences, sketches he made during his travels and revisiting the sites, Jackson depicted scenes of trail life from the Missouri River to the west coast. His watercolor paintings grace many books about the trails and most of his collection was donated to Scotts Bluff National Monument in 1949. 

How do you memorialize your travels?

Quote: "Thursday, August 2nd. At noon we corralled ... 10 miles from Scotts Bluffs, which loom up before us in all their variety of outline. In the P.M. we drove up into the pass that leads through them. We had one of the steepest and worst gulches to drive through yet ... our camp is right in one of the narrowest parts of the pass and the walls rise up perpendicularly on either hand ... " -William Henry Jackson, 1866 diary

Primary Image: A watercolor painting of a freight wagon train being driven past a distinctive looking sandstone bluff. 

Image Caption: One of the rare views of the trail looking east, this shows how narrow the route around the bluff was. Credit: "Scotts Bluff" Water color painting by William Henry Jackson, Scotts Bluff National Moument Collection

Inset Image: A sketch of a man standing with his left hand in his pocket and his right hand holding a whip. 

Image Caption: A self-portrait of Jackson as a bullwhacker in 1866. Credit: "Salt Lake, 1866" by William Henry Jackson, Scotts Bluff National Moument Collection

• William Henry Jackson

  
  

  Stop 12 on the Scotts Bluff National Monument Oregon Trail Pathway Audio Tour

  Credit / Author:

  Audio Recording by Ray Richards

  Date created:

  07/22/2024

  Audio Transcript

  At this location the famed pioneer artist and photographer William Henry Jackson camped in 1866 along with that freighting company for which he worked.  Earlier that year Jackson found himself in Nebraska City, Nebraska Territory – a jumping off point for freighting caravans that were headed west. Despite lacking any experience in handling oxen or hauling freight, Jackson signed on as bullwhacker for an outfit bound for Montana.

  Along the trail he sketched the sites he saw and the people he met.  Jackson was a gifted artist and he found his journey west to be filled with new inspiration.   Jackson left the freight caravan near South Pass in present day Wyoming and headed south for Salt Lake City and eventually California.  His experiences in the West struck a chord in him, and he realized that documenting the settling of the frontier might become his life’s work.

  It is through Jackson’s images of the frontier, coupled with the first-hand experiences found in emigrant diaries that we have the opportunity to gain a better understanding of what life truly was like along the Oregon Trail. 

  If you would like to learn more about William Henry Jackson and his works, visit the monument visitor center and tour the William Henry Jackson Exhibit where you will find reprints of some of his watercolors and photographs.  You may also request a brochure about Jackson from one of the park rangers at the information desk.

  From here the historic trails make their way north returning to the banks of the North Platte River and westward to the mountains.  We hope that you have enjoyed your walk and your tour, and that we have given you a better understanding of the Oregon Trail and the people who traveled it.  This concludes the Oregon Trail audio tour.